The aftermath of the minion mission
by Bonasena
Summary: okay terrible title but it is basically the aftermath of the Sidney and Nell on an adventure with Andre Martinzes in s10e18 and focused on Nell and Eric dealing with the case and the case impact on their relationship.
1. Chapter 1

_note: I wasn't a very big fan of the crime plot in s10e18 but I LOVED the Eric/Nell story. I am still not a big fan of Sidney. but I hope I was unfair to her in this 2 part story. please let me know what you think._

**After the scene in the park where Nel introduced Andre to Callen, Sam, and Kensi.**

**This is sort of a connection between the takedown scene in the park and the reunion of our favorite meercats in OPS.**

Callen and Sam take statements from Sidney and Andre and coordinate with local authorities to get the arrested men on the motorbikes escorted away. Kensi sees Nell sitting at the picnic table. She looks tired and a little distracted. Kensi walks over and sits down next to Nell.

"you okay?" Kensi asks. Nell looks up.

"have you talked to Eric within the last few hours?" Kensi has a pretty good feeling about what she is specifically referring to. Kensi nods. "yeah he has been distracted all day."

It makes Nell smile. She knows how Eric is when he is distracted.

"he has been worried about you all day," Kensi says trying to make Nell feel a bit better.

"thanks, Kens. I know what you are trying to do, and I really appreciate it." Nell says and stands up. Kensi gives a pad on the shoulder and walks over to get an update from a police officer who has been talking with Sam. Nell walks towards Andre and Sidney. She can see Sidney is driving Andre nuts with the constant failed attempts to flirt with him. About 30 feet away Nell sees Callen is on the phone. She has a pretty good feeling it is Eric he is on the phone with. She can hear him say that they are just finishing up here. That means it is almost time for Nell to face Eric and the consequences of today's events.

"how do you think Eric will react?" Sidney asks a little mockingly towards her little sister.

"he will be fine," Nell says not really want to get into that discussion with Sidney, and she has been trying not to think of worst-case scenarios of how Eric could react to what happened.

Callen hangs up on the phone with Eric and walks over to Sidney, Andre, and Nell.

"Sidney Andre Kensi will give you a ride back to your hotels." Callen informs them. "come with us."

They start walking down the trail with Kensi, Callen, and Sam the police officers have left with the arrested motorcycle guy.

On the way down the trail, Nell is walking a bit behind everyone else. She is just thinking about Eric. Suddenly she is snapped out of her thoughts when she sees Andre is walking next to her.

"Nell I just want to thank you for what you did for me today and for believing me," Andre says with a sincere almost shy smile.

"Andre you already said that. I was happy to help." Both Nell and Andre can feel Sidney's eyes on them watching every move they make.

"I know I already said it I just want you to know that I never meant to get you into any kind of trouble, neither with your work, the law or your boyfriend."

"thanks, Andre that means a lot."

"I really hope I didn't cause any serious trouble for you with your boyfriend."

"you didn't. It will be fine. Eric knows how effective a kiss is as a distraction for facial recognition so he will understand."

"sorry what?" Andre looks very confused.

"you know Public displays of affection make people uncomfortable. So to make sure that the police officers who were driving by didn't recognize me I kissed you because that would make them not look at us and by that not recognize either of us." Nell explains as they walk towards the trailhead where the cars are parked.

"and your boyfriend will know that?" Andre asks.

"yes, he and I usually work together finding people who are trying to hide from facial recognition software."  
"he sounds incredibly smart. I hope he knows he is a fortunate guy."

That makes Nell blush and look away from Andre. When Nells face as gotten its normal color back, she looks ahead and sees Sidney who is looking back at her with a furious expression. After that Nell and Andre walk-in silence side by side for the rest of the trail down to the car. Andre and Sidney walk over to Kensi's big black SUV, and Andre gets into the back seat. Sidney sees a moment to walk over and have a chat with him.

"you should stop flirting with him. you have a boyfriend remember?" Sidney says.

"I am not flirting with him. He is flirting with me. I have zero interest in him. I have a boyfriend that I live with and that I love very much."  
"aghh did not need to know the details."  
"get in the car." Nell demands and Sidney gets into the back seat, and Kensi starts the car. "by the way. You are welcome for helping you today." Nell says to Sidney who never actually thanked her for unwillingly helping out. Nell slams the car door. Kensi looks back after her friend as she drives away. Nell walks over to Callen and Sam who are standing against Sams challenger.

"how are you doing Nell?" Callen asks.

"I don't know." Nell admits. "did Eric sound angry when you talked to him?"

"no." Callen says. "he sounded relieved that we had found you and that you were safe."

They all three get into the car and sam starts driving.

"Eric probably left the office already," Nell says and leans back in the backseat and rest her head against the headrest and closes her eyes for a moment.

"he said he was going to stay to finish up some paperwork," Callen informs her. Sam looked back at Nell in the rare mirror. She has her eyes closed, but she is still awake.

It is a quiet drive back to the office.

**The office**

Sam pulls up in front of the building and parks the car. Nell gets out and walks in, and Sam and Callen drives away. Nell walks hesitantly through the hallway towards the bullpen. He can hear someone typing on a keyboard. Once she is in the bullpen, she sees Eric sitting at his workstation typing on his keyboard. He has his back towards the office. She takes a moment to gather her thoughts. She opened the entire car ride thinking about what she is going to say to him and how he is going react to seeing her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Post Neric****scene at the end**

Nell relaxes in his arms and leans her head angst his chest. She can hear his heartbeat. It relaxes her and makes all the stress of the day leave her body. His chin is resting against the top of her head. She couldn't imagine a better way to end the day. They hear footsteps from the bullpen and sees prosecutor Rogers leaving the office and walking down the hallway.

"you want to get out of here?" Nell finally asks and look up to meet his eyes. "have dinner? My treat."  
"sure," Erice says and shots down his computer. They walk close to each other almost trembling over each other back to the bullpen.

"let me go get my pack," Eric says and kisses her before he runs up to ops to get his backpack. Nell is left alone in the bullpen for a moment. He takes a moment to relax before Eric comes running down the stairs again.

"how was your day?" Nell asks once they walk down the hallway hand in hand to Eric's car.

"boring at first. Driving to work all by my self." Eric puts a lot of attention to the part that he was all by himself. It makes Nell smile. "than surprising when Facial located you along with a guy wanted for murder. Which was also part of the scary part because I could locate you or get in touch with you. I couldn't find your car on any traffic cames." Eric looks accusing at Nell as they get into the car and he continues. "than scary and terrifying when I saw a totally inexplicable picture of you and Andre Martinz." The guilt is coming back to Nell. "it didn't mean anything, and I am really sorry. " "but…" eric interrupts her apology. "it all worked out perfectly fine when my beautiful and smart and incredibly sweet and amazing girlfriend/partner invited me out for dinner." They both start laughing. Nell leans over and kisses him on the cheek once they stop at a red light. Eric is tempted to move his head and kiss her right back but Nell moves her head away, and Eric looks disappointed at her. "Eyes on the road, Beale." She orders.

"yes, ma'am," Eric says and turns his focus back to the road.

After they have dinner at their favorite restaurant, they drive back to their house. Nell crashes down on the couch almost immediately. She is exhausted. She leans back against the corner and places her feet on the couch. Eric comes in and sits down and puts her feet on him and starts to massage them.

"you are seriously the best," Nell says and closes her eyes and enjoys the message.

"why did you do it?" Eric finally asks. The big elephant that has been sitting in the corner the entire time they where at the restaurant.

"did what?" Nell asks and opens her eyes.

"kissed him? why?" Eric asks agin.

"it was… a cover. I needed time to figure out who and why someone was after Andre before he was brought in so when a patrole car drive by I knew kissing would seal both Andres and my face and also make them look away." Nell sits up and take his hands in hers.

"as I said it didn't mean anything at all."

"I believe you. I was just wandering."

"you know years ago Kensi kissed Callen while on a case right?" Nell asks to try and lighten the mood. Eric look schoked.

"really?" Nell nods.

"yeah. It was undercover." Eric look down and start massaging her feet again. She can see he is not completely okay yet. She leans forward and cup his face with her hands and make him face her.

"listen in the field or undercover you sometimes have to do things that are difficult, but that is a cover. As long as we are honest to each other and talk about it. we will be okay. Right?" that makes eric smile a bit. Nell leans forward and kisses him. eric leans over Nell and Nell lays down and Eric are almost on top of her and it ends up as a full make out session on the couch until Erics phone rings. They look over at the phone on the coffee table. Eric takes his phone. It is not a number he reconizes. He show it to Nell.

"that is from Sidney. Ignore it." Nell says and Eric trhows his phone back on the table.


End file.
